Controlling the movement of an animal in confined areas has been and remains a serious problem for animal producers. The problem is particularly present in the hog producer's situation where a significant portion of the work involved with the raising of the hogs includes moving the animal from one confined area to another. For example, in the production of hogs the farrowing process generally involves the use of a farrowing crate or free stall. A mother sow is individually held in the crate or stall for a period of time for the purpose of giving birth to her litter. When this has been accomplished she is moved to an area containing a number of other hogs. Most of today's farrowing crates or stalls are constructed to prevent the mother sow from turning around once she is in the stall and from climbing up and over the top of the crate. Because of the presence of a top on the crate, problems of a new nature have arisen for the producer when it is desired to move the sow out of the crate to a different place.
In the past, hog producers used a variety of devices to force the hog to back up out of the crate and on to a new location. More often than not, the hog will refuse to back out of the crate, preferring instead to move forward, but forward movement is prevented by the construction of the crate or stall. It is not uncommon for the hog producer to resort to force to get the sow to back up and out of the confined area. An example list of prior art devices used to accomplish this goal includes: a gate placed in front of the animal and moved rearwardly in increments against the head of the animal until the animal is out of the stall, a basket placed over the head of the animal which encourages the animal to back up in order to get out of the basket, electric probes, and canes, switches and clubs which require the use of force on the part of the producer. Despite the widespread use of such prior art devices, most producers would agree that the devices are essentially ineffective. The sow eventually backs out of the crate or other type of confined area, but oftentimes the price of this movement is injury to the sow and/or injury to the user of the prior art device. Injury to either the sow or the user is a serious problem which defeats the producer's ultimate goal of profiting from the production of the animal in that added expense is incurred when an injury results.
Movement of an animal, such as a pig, from a confined farrowing area is but one example of a situation where the above-named prior art devices are used by the producer. Other situations in which such prior art devices have proved equally ineffective are situations where it is necessary to isolate one animal in a group of animals for vaccination, sorting, loading, etc. It is not unusual to find that the prior art devices allow the pig to control the device, as well as the user of the device, to much the same degree as the user is controlling the pig and the device.
What is needed is a device which allows a person to safely and effectively control and direct the movement of the pig for a relatively short period of time. The device must be easy to handle and without potential to do bodily harm to the animal. It should be universal in its application to all types of situations in which a producer needs to control the animal, and thus replace all of the various types of ineffective prior art devices presently being used. It is believed the present invention is such a universal device capable of allowing the user sufficient control over the animal in order to reach the necessary goal whether that goal is moving an animal in a rearward direction, calming an animal, or isolating the animal momentarily.